Onet Seen As Key To Better Education

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Onet seen as key to better education

By Wannapa Khaopa

Supinda Na Mahachai

The Nation

The Ordinary National Educational Test (ONet) scores will next year be more important to students entering Matthayom 1 (Grade 7), Matthayom 4 (Grade 10) and universities, as the ONet scores will be among criteria for admissions to those levels, secretarygeneral Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) Chinnapat Bhumirat said yesterday.

The decision came after a sevenhour long brainstorming session among Obec's top officials comprising academics, educators and educational service area directors and school directors in Bangkok yesterday. The attempt was to make students pay more serious attention to the test. The meeting also targeted the use of ONet as a tool to improve the country's education quality.

Although Prathom 6 students (6th graders), Matthayom 3 students (9th graders) and Matthayom 6 students (12th graders) are the test takers, ONet has no serious impact on them and provides no incentives. So, they don't attempt the test seriously, which leaves Obec unable to measure their academic performance accurately.

Therefore, Chinnapat will work with agencies to use ONet scores as part of admissions for those levels.

"I will let Obec's policy and plan bureau find out proper conditions for using ONet scores as incentives for the students who will apply for those levels next year," said Chinnapat.

Meanwhile, he presented in the morning discussion an idea to allow only Prathom 6 students whose ONet Thai language subject scores reached 40 per cent or more to finish primary school level. Reading literacy is the basis for learning other subjects.

opposition

But some academics and directors opposed the idea because it would probably increase pressure on small schools in particular that are currently facing many problems - including the lack of resources and teachers - rather than help them to improve their education quality. A university lecturer urged attention to classroom development, which he believed would help raise ONet scores.

Chinnapat said he would have each educational service area office set up its own goals, with schools under their supervision aiming to reach better ONet scores. Results of each would take into account the context of each office.

"To fix the minimum passing scores could make some teachers manipulate the tests to help the students get higher marks."

He agreed with some academics who proposed considering students' ONet scores in the light of teachers seeking higher academic standings. However, others said it was not fair to teachers whose students were not in the levels required to take the test.

The meeting did not reach a clear resolution on this point.

Chinnapat said that after the offices submitted their strategic plans and goals for an increase in ONet marks, Obec would see how they could support schools with different needs. "We will focus on students' literacy and numeracy."

Prof Somwang Pitiyanuwat, board chairman of the National Institute of Educational Testing Services (NIETS ), said it would report ONet results in terms of error analysis - aside from the scores - to the offices and schools, pointing out what their students' specific weak points were.

He said ideas on adjusting the test's answer forms to be more simple [so they would not affect students' scores] would be discussed at the board's next meeting.

Somwang said that apart from testing students' cognitive skills, using ONet, the board would also collaborate with the offices and schools to conduct research to measure and develop their noncognitive skills.

-- The Nation 2011-05-11